Kukla's Korner Hockey

When it comes to adapting to rules, the hockey coach is a creative creature.
Give him time, and he will find a way to manipulate myriad advantages out of the changes introduced to the NHL this season.
But will coaches be able to manipulate parity back into hockey?
Not likely. It looks like another job for the salary cap, and it might be a few years before that animal brings about something close to balance.
In the short term, the cap itself has cut the legs out from under teams that used to be money-rich, but are now relatively talent-poor because they weren't paying attention to the looming changes.
In the short term, the gap between the best teams and the worst could be wider this season than it has been in years.